September 2023 Insurance Update

We touch upon several topics in our September 2023 Insurance Update.

We begin with two federal circuit court rulings on late notice – one involving a claims-made policy and the other an occurrence policy. In these cases, the courts address whether an insurer can maintain a late notice defense when it was aware of the suit against the policyholder.

An aircraft insurance policy requires the pilot to have a medical certificate. The pilot’s medical certificate was out of date, but the crash was due to mechanical failure. Does this non-compliance void coverage? The court considers the difference between exclusions and conditions.

Guided by last year’s Radiator Specialty decision from the North Carolina Supreme Court, the North Carolina Business Court hands down decisions on allocation and the number of occurrences in suits against a hog farmer.

When the policy language is against them, policyholders often assert that coverage is illusory. A Florida federal court considers whether coverage is illusory when the policyholder specializes in transporting horses by plane and its policy has an aircraft exclusion.

Home Depot had a widely publicized data breach a few years back. In its suit to recoup costs from its insurers, an Ohio federal court decides whether the claims involved Property Damage and whether the electronic data exclusion applies.

We hope you find these cases informative.

Rob Tugander and Greg Mann